Electric alarm clock



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Patented Feb. 19, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE InternationalReg-ister Company, Chicago, 111., a corporationof Illinois ApplicationJune 7, 1946,'Serial No. 675,103 6 Claims. (01. 5838) Myinventionrelates, generally, to clock and it has particular relation to improvement in electric alarm-clocks for household use. The present invention is an'improvement'over the clock disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial 'No. 840,245,filed January 10, 1946, and assigned'to the assignee' of this application, now Patent No; 2,491,103, issued. December 13, 1949.

Amongthe objects of my invention are: to

provide'tan electric alarm clock that is'simple and'efficient in operation and which can bemanufactui'ed readily'and economically; to'operate'the alarm by a rotatable member which is driven by the motor that also drives the'time indicating mechanism; to" employ "a "plurality of actuating sections on themember .drivenby themotor and arrange'the same so that each swings a hammer'to strike analarm' bell during each revolution of the member; to provide the actuating sections :in the form cam surfaces on a cam mountedfforrotation with the motor rotor on its shaft; to mount the hammer so that it swings freely when it strikes the bell and is undamped by the'operating cam; to support the hammer on a light weight resilient yoke to reducethe damping'eflect'thereof; to support rockably'the yoke carrying'the hammer onthe'time setting shaft; to: arrest' the yokeand' hammer between the bell andthecamin 'the non-operative positiom-to release the yoke from thenon-operativeposition by mechanisnrdriven by the motor; and to provide' for manually controlling the release from the non-operative position.

Other objects ofmy invention will, in part, be

"obvious'and'in part appear hereinafter.

'Accordingly'my invention is disclosed in the embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and'it comprises the features of constructiom:combination of elements and arrangement of partswhich Willbe exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth-and the scopejofthe application of'whi'ch will "be"'indicated in the append-ed claims.

For a "more complete understanding of the "nature and scope of my invention reference may be i had :to the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawings,

iniivhichz Figure 1 is a view, in front elevatiomof aclo'ck inwhich my invention is incorporated;

Figure 2"is a view, in rear elevation, of the cloclgshown-in Figure 1;

Figural; is .a view, in'rear elevation, o:the

shown in Figure ,1, thej'back plate having been removed and aportionof'themotor casing being broken away in order to illustrate the details of construction;

Figure 4 is a view, similar to Figure'3,"but showing the bell hammer support yoke held in the non-operative position by the'manually'operable alarm release shaft;

Fig-ure ii is a sectional View, at an enlarged scale, taken along the line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a'detail View, at an enlarged scale, of'the bell 'hammersupport yoke and the motor driven automatic release mechanism therefor;

Figure 7 is a detail sectional View, taken along the line '!-1 of Figure 6;

Figure '8 isa view, similar to Figure 6, but showing the bell hammer support yoke and hammer inth-e non-operative position; H

Figure 9 is a detail'sectional view taken along theline' 99'of Figure 8;

Figure 10 isai'perspective view of the bell hammer support yokeand the hammer carried there- Figure 11 is a view illustrating, schematically, the gear train interconnecting the motor and the time indicating mechanism and also illustrating the cam driven by the motor and the manner in which the alarm can be set; and

Figure 12 is a View, in side elevation, of the "manually operablealarm release shaft.

Referring now particularly to Figures 1 and 5 of the drawings, it will be observed that the reference character It designates a clockc'ase which maybe formed of any suitable material, either metal or plastic or the like. A transparent curved coverl-l' is secured by a'ring l2 in'a circular recess l3, that is formed in'the front'wall ofthe case II]. 'A facev I4 canbe viewed through the transparent cover H and it carries thenumerals 1 through 1.2 to indicatethe hours. A scale i5. divides the hours into suitable subdivisions suchasquarter hours. Conventional minute and hour hands l6 and ii are arranged to the aperture l9 for the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of the indication given thereby.

Reference will now be had to the schematic layout shown in Figure 11 of the drawings for the purpose of describing at the outset the relationship of certain of the mechanisms embodied in the clock construction. It will be noted that the minute hand I6 is mounted on and for rotation with a shaft 24 and that the hour hand I1 is similarly mounted on sleeve 25 which is positioned around the shaft 24. A pinion 26 is secured to the shaft 24 while a gear wheel 21 is secured to the sleeve 25. The pinion 26 meshes with a gear wheel 28 while the gear wheel 21 meshes with a pinion 29 that is mounted for rotation with the gear wheel 28. The gear reduction is such that the shaft 24 and the minute hand |6 rotate 12 times for each revolution of the hour hand l1 and sleeve 25.

The gear wheel 28 and pinion 29 are commonly driven by a pinion 39 which may be driven through a clutch 3| of the kind disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 656,953, filed March 25, 1946, now Patent No. 2,564,103, issued August 14, 1951 by a gear wheel 32. The pinion 38 is mounted for rotation with a time setting shaft 33 to which is secured a time setting knob 34. The clutch 3| is provided to permit the setting of the time as indicated by the hands l6 and 11 without requiring rotation of the gear wheel 32 and the gear train in the mesh therewith which connects the same to the driving motor.

The gear train just referred to comprises a series of intermeshing pinions and gear wheels 36 through 41, the pinion 36 meshing with the gear wheel 32 and the gear wheel 41 meshing with a pinion 48 that is mounted on and driven by a motor shaft 49 which carries a rotor 50 of a synchronous motor of suitable construction such as that shown in Haydon Patent No. 2,353,305. It will be understood, however, that other suitable types of motors can be employed for operating the clock mechanism disclosed herein. The construction of the motor is such that the rotor 58 is caused to rotate at a speed of 450 R. P. M. when the motor is energized with alternating current at a frequency of 60 cycles per second.

Mounted on the motor shaft 49 is a cam which is employed for operating the alarm mechanism. The cam 5| is illustrated diagrammatically only in Figure 11. Its shape and function will be described in more detail hereinafter.

With a view to providing for adjusting the position of the alarm set hand |8 it is mounted on an alarm hand gear hub 56 which in turn is positioned for rotation coaxially with the shaft 24 and the sleeve 25. An alarm set gear wheel 51 is secured to the hub 56 and is arranged to be driven through an idler gear wheel 58 by a pinion 59. The pinion 59 is mounted on an alarm set shaft 60 which can be manually moved by an alarm set knob 6 I.

In Figures 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings the motor, referred to hereinbefore, is indicated, generally, at 64. It includes a case or cover 65 which surrounds the rotor 50 and which may be secured as by a press fit over shading rings 66 which are carried by a core structure or motor frame 61 that forms a part of the magnetic circuit of the motor as is more fully set forth in the patent to Haydon previously referred to. The case or cover 65 has a circular aperture 68 through which the motor shaft 49 projects for carrying the cam 5|.

The gear train, previously described, is located within a gear case 69 on which the motor 64 is mounted and which may be secured, as by screws 10, to the rear wall of a cup-shaped base plate 1| which has a flange 12 that interfits with the flange 13, integrally formed with the case l0 to hold the mechanism in place therein. Pillars 14 extend rearwardly from the base plate 1| to a back plate 15, Figure 2, where they are secured thereto as by screws 16.

Also mounted on the rear of the base plate 1| is a Z-shaped bell mounting bracket 80. It may be secured thereon by any suitable means such as by screws 8|. A bell 82 is mounted on the bracket 88 by a centrally located screw 83. The bell 82 may be formed of annealed yellow brass. As indicated in Figure 2 apertures 84 are provided in the back plate 15 in front of the bell 82 so that the tone thereof will not be mufiled as would otherwise be the case if the back plate 15 completely enclosed the rear of the case Hi.

The bell 82 is arranged to be repeatedly struck by a tip 86 of a hammer 81 which may be formed of brass. The hammer 81 is carried by a bifurcated bell hammer support yoke, indicated generally at 88, in Figure 10 of the drawings. The yoke 88 is preferably formed of resilient material such as Phosphor bronze. Its arms 89 and 90 are apertured as indicated at 9| and 92 for mounting on the time set shaft 33, as is illustrated more clearly in Figure 5 of the drawings. It will be understood that the yoke 88 can be mounted on a shaft, other than the time set shaft 33, this shaft being chosen for its pivot support in order to take advantage of its presence and obviate the necessity for providing a separate shaft for this purpose.

Referring again to Figure 10 it will be observed that the arm 89 of the yoke 88 is fork shaped and includes a hammer supporting section 93 a part of which interfits with a slot 94 in the hammer 81 and which has an offset portion 95 to bring the same above the outer surface of the hammer 81. The hammer 81 is secured to the section 93 by suitable means such as a single hollow rivet 96. This construction permits the fastening of the hammer 81 to the yoke 88 by a single rivet or fastening device 96 since this together with the slot 94 and the associated portion of the section 93 serve to hold the hammer 81 rigidly in place.

The arm 89 also includes a cam striking section 91 which, as illustrated, is relatively long and narrow. It is offset intermediate its length as indicated at 98 and has an inwardly turned end portion 99 that is arranged to be engaged successively by surfaces I00 of points |0| of the cam 5| which, it will be recalled, is mounted for rotation with the motor shaft 49.

It will be noted that the cam 5| comprises a three point operating member having a plurality of operating surfaces mo, each of which is arranged to strike the inturned end portion 99 of the cam striking section 91 for the purpose of rocking the yoke 88 in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 6, so that the tip 86 of the hammer 81 will strike the bell 82 a blow and cause the same to vibrate. It has been found that exceptionally satisfactory results are obtained when the cam 5| or 'operatingmember has three points |0| each of which strikes the cam striking section 91 during each revolution of the rotor 50. When the rotor 58 operates at a speed of 450 R. P. M., the hammer 81 is caused to impact the bell 82 about 1350 times each minute. The arrangement of the yoke 88 and the cam 5| is such that when the tip 86 of the hammer 8'! strikes the bell 82, the inturned end 99 of the cam striking section 91 is out of contact with the particular cam surface Hill which has caused the movement of the yoke 88. Thus the hammer 8! is swinging substantially freely when it strikes the bell 82 and the tone thereof is substantially undamped. If means, such as the cutoff lever I I acting against cut-out arm IIIB extending from the yoke 88 as described hereinafter, were not provided for holding the cam striking section 91 out .of the path of the points IIII of the cam 51, .the hammer 8? would continue to strike the bell 82. As will presently appear, means are provided for releasing the yoke 38 for operation by the cam only at a predetermined time and the extent of the operation is under the control of manually operable-mears which serves to shut also includes a section I96 having a hold down' lug ID! the surface of which is convex and which, i

as indicated in Figure 5, bears against the surface of the shading ring (it to prevent the yoke 83 from being withdrawn or moved along the time set shaft 33 unless it is rotated manually sufliciently far so that the lug It? clears the shading ring 66.

. The side movement limiting section I05 performs an important function in the operation of the hammer 87. It is relatively long and narrow and is sufiiciently resilient so that, on striking the surface of the motor frame 6! it causes the yoke 88 and therewith the hammer 81 to rebound and, assisted'by the force imparted by the cam 'ziI, the latter to impact the bell 82 with a sharp blow and to produce a clear ringing tone.

Integrally formed with the yoke 88 is a cutout arm I 08 which serves to position either automatically or manually the yoke 88 in either the operative or the non-operative position. The H cut-out arm I98 is arranged to be engaged by a rearwardly turned end I69 of an alarm cut-off I It, the end portion I09 projecting through an aperture H I in the base plate H so as to register with the cut-out arm H13 external thereto. The alarm cut-off lever is rockably mounted at II2 inside of the cup-shaped base plate Ii and it has a hook portion IIS to which a coil tension spring IM is secured, the other end being fastened to a lug or tab II5 that may be struck up from atop plate IIE, Figure 7, which, asis more fully described in Gallagher Patent No. 2,491,103, issued December 13, 1949, is located underneath the face I l and closes the front side of the base plate 'II.

The position of the alarm cut-off lever I I0 is controlled in part by an inclined surface or edge III of an upturned end portion IIB of an alarm release lever I I9. This is shown more clearly in Figures 6 and 8 of the drawings. As there shown and also as illustrated in Figures 7 and 9, the inclined surface I I1 engages an adjacent edge of an arm IIt' that is integrally formed with the cut-off lever II I] so that, depending upon the point engagement, the cut-off lever III) either 6 occupies the position shown in Figure 6 when the alarm is released or the position shown in Figure 8 when the alarm has been shut off.

The alarm release lever I I9 has at the end opposite the section I I8 a pair of up-turned bearing sections I which are slotted their full length so as to interfit with a shaft I2 I that is journaled' in lugs I22 that are struck up from the top plate I I5. The intermediate portion I23 of the alarm release lever H9 is of a generally U shape and interfits with analarm set sleeve I24-that is slidably mounted on the sleeve 25 which supports the hour hand II.

The sleeve I24 has integrally formed top and bottom flanges I25 and I26. The bottom flange I26 contains a vshaped notch I21 with which a detent I28,,struck up from the alarm set gear wheel 5'! cooperates. It Will be recalled that the position of the alarm set gear wheel 51, and thereby the position of the detent I 28, maybe set by the alarm set knob GI to a position corresponding to the time, asindicat'ed by the alarm set hand I8, that it is desired that the alarm-be sounded. The alarm set sleeve I24 is driven by the gear wheel 2'! .by a slidable connection-which comprises a slot I29 in theupper flange I25 and a detent I36 which extends into the same and is integrally formed with the gear wheel 21; Thus the alarm set sleeveIM rotates conjointly with the gear wheel 27 and it rides on ithe-upper'edg'e of the detent !28 until the notch I2I is brought into register therewith as illustrated in Figure 7. Thereupon the alarm set sleeve I24 slides along the sleeve 25. This movement'is caused by a coil tension spring I 34, Figures 6 a-nd8, one end of which is secured to a hook portion I of the alarm release lever H9 and the other end is secured to a tab I36 which is struck up from the top plate I.I6.

During the period when the alarm is not in operation and while the alarm set sleeve I24 is traveling toward the alarm release position, the alarm set sleeve I24 is spaced away from the alarm set gear wheel 51 toward the gear wheel 21 as 'viewed in Figure 9. During this interval the inclined surface I I7 cooperates with the arm III) to hold the alarmcut-oil lever I II] in the position shown'in Figure 8where the yoke 88 is held in inoperative position between'the bell: 82 and the cam 51'. When the notch I2'I is moved so that it registers with the detent I28, as;illiis-= trated in Figure '7, the inclinedsurface H1 is moved toward the top plate IIfi by the coil tension spring I34 and it no longer interferes with the movement of the alarm cut-off lever III]. Its spring II4 then rocks the same to the position shown in Figure 6 whereupon the yoke 88 can be rocked by the cam 5| to cause the hammer 81 to strike the bell 82 as described hereinbefore.

In order to manually control the release of the alarm and toshut it off soon after it starts to operate, an alarm release knob, shown generally at I37 in Figure 12, is provided. The alarm re lease knob I3! includes a knob portion I38 which projects through the back plate "I5 and which can be grasped by the thumb and forefinger to pull the same out for releasing the alarm or pushing the same in to shut it off. At its inner end the alarm release knob I31 has a twisted portion I39 which interfits with a slot I40 in the base plate 'I I, Figures 6 and 8, to cause the knob I31 to rotate slightly when it is pulled out or pushed in. An arm I II extending from the alarm release knob I31 is arranged to cooperate with the side of the end portion I09 of the cutoff lever H0 that projects through the aperture III for holding the same and thereby the cutout arm I08 of the yoke 88 in the alarm cut-off position as viewed in Figure 4. The knob I31 has a hook portion I42 to which a coil tension spring I43 may be secured. The other end of the spring I43 may be fastened to one of the pillars 14, as indicated in Figures 6 and 8.

As long as the alarm release knob I3! is pushed in the arm MI H0 in the position illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawings. Even though the alarm set sleeve I24 is rotated to the position shown in Figure 7, the alarm will not be sounded. However, when the alarm set knob I31 has been pulled out so that the arm MI occupies the position as shown in Figures 3, 6 and 8 of the drawings, the alarm will be operated as soon as the alarm set sleeve I24 is rotated to the position shown in Figure 7 of the drawings.

The hammer 87 is illustrated in Figures 4 and 8 of the drawings in the inoperative position. In Figure 4-the alarm set knob is in the off position so that the hammer 87 cannot be operated by the cam 5| at any time.

I31 is in the on position in Figure 8 and the hammer 81 can be operated by the cam 5| to strike the bell 82 when the notch I21 in the sleeve I24 registers with the detent I28 at the time the alarm is set to operate.

thereof holds the cut-off lever I The alarm set knob A In such inoperative position of the hammer I.

81, provision can be made for having the tip 86 thereof bear against the bell 82 under a slight thrustexerted by the resilient cut-off arm I08. For this purpose the alarm cut-off lever H0 and its end portion I09 in the alarm off position can be-so located that the hammer 81 is maintained in engagement with the bell 82, with the cut-out arm I08 deflected downwardly slightly, thereby resiliently maintaining the desired engagement. Thus, the hammer 81 can be prevented from moving and striking the bell 82 while the clock is being handled.

Since certain further changes can be made in the foregoing construction and different embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matter shown in the accompanying drawings or described hereinbefore shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 2 1

I claim as my invention:

1. In an electric alarm clock, in combination, a base plate, a motor mounted on said base plate having a rotor and a frame including a radially projecting flange, an alarm bell mounted on said base plate, a shaft extending from said base plate, a generally U-shaped bell hammer support yoke rockably mounted on said shaft each arm of which is bifurcated, the arm of said yoke adjacent said base plate having a section for engaging said motor frame to limit movement of the yoke away from said bell and another section having a convex surface for engaging the face of said flange adjacent said base plate to prevent removal of the yoke from said shaft, the other arm of said yoke having a hammer supporting section and a cam striking section, a hammer carried by said hammer supporting section for striking said bell, and a cam driven by said motor for engaging said cam striking section to oscillate said yoke whereby said hammer intermittently strikes said bell.

2. The invention, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the motor drives time indicating means and manually operable means are provided for setting said time indicating means which includes the shaft on which the bell hammer support yoke is mounted.

3. The invention, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the bell hammer support yoke has an integrally formed cutout arm, means cooperating with said cutout arm for holding said yoke and the hammer carried thereby in an inoperative position between the bell and the motor driven cam, and means driven by the motor for releasing said yoke holding means to permit operation of the alarm mechanism.

4. The invention, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the section of the arm of the yoke adjacent the base plate is resilient and springingly engages the motor frame to cause the yoke and thereby the hammer to rebound and to assist the cam in operating the same to strike the hell with a sharp blow.

5. The invention, as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the bell hammer support yoke has a'resilient cutout arm, means cooperating with 'said cutout arm for causing the same to hold resiliently said hammer in an inoperative position in engagement with the bell, and means driven by the motor for releasing said yoke holding means to permit operation of the alarm mechanism.

6. In an electric alarm clock, in combination, a synchronous electric motor arranged to drive time indicating means, an alarm bell, a hammer for striking said bell, a cam driven by said motor for operating said hammer, and resilient means operating simultaneously with said cam for causing said hammer to rebound toward said bell at the limit of its movement away from the same.

WILLIAM P. GAILAGHER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 550,718 Hay Dec. 3', 1895 584,470 Gubitz June 15, 1897 1,046,879 Simmons Dec. 10, 1912 1,934,387 Tweedale Nov. 7, 1933 2,006,758 Carlson July 2, 1935 2,020,388 Watson Nov. 12, 1935 2,091,770 Schlenker Aug. 31, 1937 2,211,426 Hutchinson Aug. 13, 1940 2,335,904 Bentley et al. Dec. '7, 1943 2,465,492 Stotz Mar. 29, 1949 2,491,103 Gallagher Dec. 13,1949

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 75,991 Switzerland Mar. 1, 1918 414,016 France Aug. 24, 1910 

